Leicester City striker David Nugent rolls back the years by scoring in FA Cup defeat of Norwich City

Few careers in football fluctuate quite as wildly as David Nugent’s. Here is a
footballer who encapsulates, perhaps, Andy Warhol’s theory of 15 minutes of
fame - a man who once played a quarter of an hour for England, scored, and
then sank into obscurity.

His decisive strike at Carrow Road, propelling Leicester into the FA Cup quarter-finals at the expense of an undercooked Norwich side, marked the re-emergence of a talent we had long forgotten.

You could be forgiven for wiping Nugent’s England exposure from the memory. After all, it consisted solely of a 93rd-minute goal against Andorra in 2007.

The striker embarked on an four-year spell at Portsmouth, failing to come near a Three Lions jersey again. But the assurance with which he grasped Leicester’s winner, skipping past Leon Barnett before angling his finish beyond a sprawling Jed Steer, hinted at a player rediscovering his comfort level.

“My career seemed to go down since I played for England,” admitted Nugent, who joined Leicester last summer on a free transfer.

“At Portsmouth I was down – I am not going to lie. But it is up to me to get back up to my best, scoring goals. This was a great goal. I had a chance to get past Barnett, the ’keeper came rushing out and I slid it into the bottom corner. I felt we did well to kill the game after that.”

The euphoria of Cup success is a familiar sensation for the 26 year-old, part of the Portsmouth side that won the Cup in 2008.

“We played Manchester United that year and beat them 1-0 – Sulley Muntari scored,” he reflected. “When you get that buzz of beating a big team, you believe you can get to the final, and I am starting to have that feeling again at Leicester. Two seasons later Portsmouth were back in the Cup final but I was on loan at Burnley. I have won it once – I don’t want to be greedy.”

Nugent’s contentment in the East Midlands is sharpened by the presence at Leicester of Sean St Ledger, his former Preston team-mate and fellow goalscorer in this fifth-round upset. The pair room together on away trips and choose to prepare by trying to kick empty Lucozade bottles into waste-paper bins.

“We always have a few bottles lined up and if you get it in the bin you know you are going to score,” Nugent said. “Sean is a great lad, I’ve known him for a couple of years now. We are really good friends.”

For Nugent, a second England call-up remains as remote a prospect as a Leicester Cup final win, particularly when Harry Redknapp, the figure who froze him out of the starting XI at Fratton Park, is the leading choice to take over the national side.

“Harry bought me for Portsmouth but we didn’t see eye to eye,” he acknowledged. “If he got the job it would be up to me to impress him.”

The skills he exhibited here, though, were more than sufficient for Leicester manager Nigel Pearson, who said: “David is so confident. He plays with a smile on his face. He is a very positive influence and his work-rate is exceptional. He’s a very popular player in the team and he showed the quality he has got.”

It was a more glowing verdict than could be applied to Norwich, for whom Wes Hoolahan scored on the rebound after his penalty had been saved. Their performance was flat against Championship opposition.